Feminist theories of the
body, reproduction, and the institution of motherhood typically focus
on issues of rights, autonomy, and choice. These themes become
increasingly complicated when applied to questions of reproductive loss. Interrogating Reproductive Loss: Feminist Writings on Abortion, Miscarriage, and Stillbirth seeks essays, poems, short stories, and artwork that imagine a feminist epistemology of loss.
Whereas
biomedical and feminist literature treat abortion, miscarriage, and
stillbirth as differently conceptualized events, this collection
explores the connections between these three categories. How
have feminist debates and activist strategies around reproductive
choice invigorated the cultural conversation about miscarriage, and
stillbirth? How can we imagine more nuanced engagements with the
spectrum of experiences that are at stake when a pregnancy ends? And how
can we effectively create a space where women and trans people are
given the opportunities to "identify and 'own'" (Cosgrove 2004) the ways
that loss makes meaning for those who grieve and/or celebrate the end
of pregnancy?
Submissions
from researchers, parents, healthcare experts, community workers,
artists, and activists are welcome. Chapters from a wide range of
disciplines and cultural perspectives, both theoretical/scholarly and
creative (e.g., stories, narrative, creative non-fiction, poetry,
image-based), are highly encouraged and will be considered.
Topics may also include (but are not limited to):
Epistemologies
of loss; policy directions for reproductive health; queering pregnancy
loss; 'planned' pregnancies and ideological constructions of 'time';
feminist models of grief/remorse; expectations/impositions of grief;
limitations of 'pro-choice' rhetoric; decolonizing reproductive
'freedom'; third and fourth wave engagements with reproductive loss;
narratives of silence/silencing; reinvigorating feminist praxis in the
face of reproductive loss; reproductive loss, ambivalence, and the
contradictory politics of choice; health care service delivery from a
feminist perspective; gaps in public health care service delivery and
assessment tools; discrimination in health care; reproductive loss and
the social construction of 'unfit' bodies; reproductive loss in the
digital age; maternal activism in relation to fertility and reproductive
loss; feminist critiques and analyses of post abortion stress syndrome;
sudden infant death syndrome; postpartum depression following
reproductive loss; memorializing reproductive loss and bereavement;
experiences of miscarriage, preterm labour resulting in loss,
stillbirth, and early- and late-term abortions; the paid and unpaid work
associated with reproductive loss; intersectional analyses/critiques of
reproductive loss; reproductive loss and the potential for empowerment;
surrogate loss; selective abortion and loss; reproductive loss and
support or lack thereof; and infertility and involuntary childlessness.
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